Synergetic polarization effect of protonation and Fe-doping toward g-C3N4 with enhanced photocatalytic activity

Recently, polarization has emerged as an effective strategy to further boost the charge separation and photocatalytic performance of semiconductor photocatalyst. Herein, both protonated and Fe doped Nanoporous g-C3N4 (H-CN@Fe) composite was prepared by a thermal polymerization & chemical post treatment with HCl. Compared with the pristine g-C3N4, the light absorption capacity, the photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange (MO), photocatalytic generation of hydroxyl radical (HO·) and photocurrent performances under visible light irradiation of H-CN@Fe were greatly improved. The enhanced activities of H-CN@Fe could be attributed to the synergetic polarization effect of protonation and Fe-doping, namely, H+ existed in the bulk of g-C3N4 provided a “highway” for the transport of delocalization of electrons and a local polarized field formed by surface Fe species facilitated the separation and transport of charge carriers to surface reactive sites to participate in the redox reactions. This study highlightes the synergetic polarization effect in boosting the charge transport, separation and photocatalytic activity of semiconductor photocatalysis.